Scenes from the Suburbs: The Suburb in Contemporary US Film and Television

Timotheus Vermeulen

Abstract

Suburbia. Say the word and a stream of images pass before your eyes: white picket fence, neatly mowed lawns, winding roads nicely lined with trees, pastel tinted bungalows, bored housewives, conspicuous consumption. We all know what the suburbs are about. Or do we? This book looks again at the filmic and televised spaces we think we know so well. How are these spaces built up? What is it that makes us recognize them as suburbs? How do they function? Exploring the hometowns of amongst others Desperate Housewives, The Simpsons, Pleasantville and Brick, Scenes from the Suburbs examines what it me ... More

Suburbia. Say the word and a stream of images pass before your eyes: white picket fence, neatly mowed lawns, winding roads nicely lined with trees, pastel tinted bungalows, bored housewives, conspicuous consumption. We all know what the suburbs are about. Or do we? This book looks again at the filmic and televised spaces we think we know so well. How are these spaces built up? What is it that makes us recognize them as suburbs? How do they function? Exploring the hometowns of amongst others Desperate Housewives, The Simpsons, Pleasantville and Brick, Scenes from the Suburbs examines what it means to be suburban today.